Mackie 54 channel 8 bus mixer... should I get it?

I found one of these locally for 950...




IT is 6.5 feet wide, and 150 lbs.


I know its not a SSL, but the reason I would want it would be input channels, and meterbridge..




what you think?



I would have to haul it to AZ from MN. part of my hesitance

um it may not be an ssl, but it's a 54 channel for under a grand and a half including gas and a potentially entertaining road trip.

No unless it's really cheap. Mackie have awful build quality, it's no better than their cheap mixers internally. It's no good for gigging unless you do some modifications. For that kind of money you would get a MUCH better desk in the UK that is modular, has better sound etc yea ok less channels but hey.
I have used various Mackie mixers in the past from the small VLZ's to the 8 Busse's...I also worked on Soundcraft's and owned a small Spirit SX for years..much better mixers imo.

I recently just got a Mackie SR-32-4 for £250...I wouldn't of got a Mackie but £250 for that amount of channles ya'know...thing is I had to open it as soon as I got it cos it was faulty as it didn't like beeing moved!! The usual Mackie ribbon cable probelem, also the construction is ish and has quite a few design miss haps..things could of been done a lot better in it but for £250 I don't mind...any more I would of been rather pissed

in other words, if it's beaten up then dont take it.

mr_debauch wrote:in other words, if it's beaten up then dont take it.

Nah not even that, over time and normal use the boards sag and the connectors oxidise, the only way to solve the connectors issue is solder the damn things in.
Sound wise they ain't bad

This is my new mixer..For the price I can't complain

vinyl_junkie_1620 wrote:

mr_debauch wrote:in other words, if it's beaten up then dont take it.

Nah not even that, over time and normal use the boards sag and the connectors oxidise, the only way to solve the connectors issue is solder the damn things in.
Sound wise they ain't bad

This is my new mixer..For the price I can't complain

wtf? what oxidizes on the connectors? are you talking about the ribbon bus connectors or the ones for jacks? The chip boards sagging or warping seems odd, wafer board doesn't usually do that. you should see the point to point soldering in one of my mixers, haha... that shit dont warp.

All the ribbon cables are shit on them hence why they are on Rev G which still don't really fix the problem

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslut ... wwwnn.html

http://forums.mackie.com/scripts/forum/ ... 4;t=001985

The board is under stress as it's not held in at the right points...it's a huge 32 ch board...and everything is one board, the eq pots are not even potted..put my hand in the middle of the board and apply a bit of pressure and you can see everything dip a bit...for the money they were originally charging for these it's appalling. A Spirit Studio which is low end Soundcaraft wipes the floor with them...sound and build wise, modular inside and vertically mounted PCB's with nutted pots.

you mean to tell me, they have every track(channel) all on one PCB and not on their own which is then connected by a parallel ribbon cable? That seems crazy. And not modular at all...


I wonder if the one grublet posted is built like that. I somehow think that would be hard to make.

All the ribbon cables are **** on them hence why they are on Rev G which still don't really fix the problem

It has the G cables... all the meters work, all the channels work... so It is a GOOD deal..

The bad deal would be hauling it to PHX.


Ive owned the 1404 VLZ and the 2404 VLZ... and both sounded nice.


I just think it would be dope to hook about 6 MPC's to it and not have to f with patchbays

your money is better spent on something else.

I dont know, it seems cheap... and nice to own considering having a lot of gear.... plus you could make tracks using more gear in tandem then you can now. I cant say if it's worth it in your set up though, but if you dont have a good sized mixer already it may be somewhere to start while on a budget.

it is a shit mixer, made for cheap live sound systems.


I say buy it if you don't care about having good sound

how many stereo inputs does that thing have?

that is my number one question about mixers. I need a new one. I have an alesis multi mix from like 2004 ish... one of the channels got fried.

I'm looking at the mackie 1400 ones because there is a total of 4 stereo channels. I don't know why they don't make more if not all channels stereo. what the hell is an insert anyway?

I am gonna get a new mixer if not before or when I get my 950.

it is nice to have built in FX too.

I saw this brand of mixer on youtube where it had a pretty nice FX section. The video was 2 dudes each with a mixer, doing some sort of noise/techno set. it had some sort of touchscreen or something, a good filter section.

if anyone has seen that and knows what i'm talking about holler.

I say buy it if you don't care about having good sound

isnt that obvious by now?


real hip hop should sound like polished shit.

get it they hatin"